[Notes on the Harris Tweed Industry]

[Notes on the Harris Tweed Industry] Clo–Mor, or tweed was made in the Islands and used domestically for clothing and blanketing for generations; no one knows how far back. It was in Harris that it was first commercialised with the assistance of Lord and Lady Dunmore who were the proprietors of northern Harris around the 1840s. Noticing the excellence of the local tweed the Dunmores got the local weavers to weave the Murray Tartan for them, and then they used the cloth for themselves and their staff as well as introducing it to their guests from the south. The first web of tweed that was sold was said to have been made by Marion and Christine Macleod who was born on the Island of Pabbay about 1810, and later on they moved to Strond. Lady Dunmore took steps to improve the quality and designs of the cloth by paying the expense of sending some Harris girls to Alloa to learn the weaving of intricate patterns. Now-a-days we would call that a Residential Training Course. Seeing the tweed was sold in Harris first it was referred to as Harris Tweed and the name was adopted for the tweed from all the Hebridean Islands. Harris Tweed made an excellent reputation for itself in the second half of the 19th century, so much so that it was imitated in both the British and European markets and it became obvious that it was necessary to register a Harris-Tweed Trade Mark. The ‘Orb’ Certification Trade-Mark was registered in 1910. Registered No.319214. The first cloth was stamped in 1911. Definition of the ‘Orb’: Harris Tweed is a tweed, hand-spun, hand-woven and finished by hand in the Outer Hebrides, with made in Harris, made in Lewis, made in Uist or Barra etc. added as appropriate. The Harris Tweed Authority was formed to administer the mark on behalf of the Hebridean Crofter Community. To begin with there were 6 persons on the Committee: The Duchess of Sutherland Scottish Home Industries Association. Mr William Harrison Mrs Mary Stewart Mackenzie The Crofters Agency Mr George Favourke Norman Macleod The H.T.A. of Harris Donald Morrison Some months later two Stornoway Merchants joined the committee: Donald Maciver The Lewis & Harris Tweed Association Malcolm MacDonald A Crofters Cottage Industry: By 1911 The Harris Tweed Industry was well established. It was a hand-spun, hand- woven, crofter industry with a registered Trade-Mark. Yarn Distaff, Spindle and Whorls, was the earlier method of spinning ‘Congall’. Spinning Wheel, no doubt both of these methods of spinning was used for the marketing of Harris Tweed at the outset. Carding Mills: Sir Samuel Scott, the proprietor of North Harris, erected a carding mill in Harris about 1900 in order to keep the Harris women with the tedious time consuming task of carding. That was the first step in the mechanisation of the industry. In 1901, Aenas Mackenzie, a man from Stornoway who had a boat-slip timber yard etc., installed a carding machine in his works. It was run off a belt from one of his machines. Probably it was quite a small thing to begin with. In time the first carding machine developed into the mill known as Patent Slip Wool Mills or Newalls. In 1909 Kenneth Mackenzie, whose people came from Bal-a-Cro and later Lochs, set out to build a Cooperage (a barrel making factory) for the herring barrels. However, he changed his mind and installed carding and spinning machinery in his new factory building on Lewis Street. This was the first spinning machinery in the Islands. The main purpose for the carding and spinning facilities was to service the crofters because the Harris Tweed Industry was growing all the time and most crofters wanted to spin their own wool. It is said that Mr Mackenzie had no intention to manufacture tweed on his own account – at first. Knitting yarn’s long before 1909: Crofters were in the habit of sending their wool to mainland mills for conversion into knitting yarns. Carding ‘own wool’ on mainland by crofters: The practice of sending their own wool to the mainland mills for carding began very early in the 20th century. Spinning ‘own wool’ on mainland: From carding own wool in mainland mills to spinning own wool in mainland mills was only a short step and as far as we can find out now, that also began early in this century. Spinning on mainland (without ‘own wool’): From spinning own wool on the mainland to acquiring mainland spun yarn without own wool was a short step and we believe that practice had started early this century. 1st half of the 150 years of the Harris Tweed Industry: We see therefore that the industry was changing gradually. You could say that the Industrial Revolution was penetrating though to the Outer Hebrides at the beginning of this century and the mechanisation of the Harris Tweed Industry is still moving forward t the end of the 20th century – a new loom is being developed now. The changes that took place in the Harris Tweed Industry in the 20th century generated much controversy and we could dwell on these changes much more, if we had time. Looms: The weaving of the Harris Tweed was quite primitive to begin with ‘beart bheag’ was the very early method of weaving. ‘Beart Mhor’ was a greatly improved method of weaving. James Mackenzie of 4 Gravir, (Seumas an Habost) was said to be the first person to acquire a beart-mhor. Then Kenneth Nicolson, 11 Calbost (a self-taught joiner) constructed his own loom, which was the second beart-mhor in Lewis. The Congested District Board was established in 1897 and they assisted with the supply of looms. They reported that there were 53 own looms in Lewis in 1899, 161 looms in 1906 and 300 looms in 1911. Probably these figures refer to the beart-mhor and there were many more beart-bheags. The Congested District Board also assisted in other ways such as better designs (they had a paid agent going round teaching). They also supplied large dyeing pots. Hattersley Looms: After Lord Leverhulme bought the Island in 1919, he went on to buy Kenneth Mackenzie’s wool mills, and he took 30 Hattersley iron looms to the Island at once - single shuttle 36inch looms. 40inch x 6 shuttle came in about 1924 and Leverhulme also stepped up export to U.S.A. One thing about Lord Leverhulme’s improvements in the 1920s I want you to note is that he intended to build commercial weaving sheds in the villages (a form of factory weaving). At first sight these new weaving sheds might appear to be a very good move, but in fact, that would have meant the end of hand weaving at the Islanders homes, which was rapidly becoming the only crofter process left of the industry that was entirely ‘a crofters industry’ originally. The next development to the loom side of the industry was not until double width looms were brought to the Island in the 1960s and the controversy that raged round the double width loom has not been finally settled 30 years later in the 1990s. Therefore it is very important that we come back to looms later on. Merchants or small producers: Naturally crofters were not able to set up a sophisticated marketing system so the early stages of the industry depended on a network of philanthropic agencies to provide people as well as local merchants who operated on a commercial basis, but unfortunately practiced the truck system to a great extent. Among the philanthropists were: Lord and Lady Dunmore, Proprietors of South Harris Lady Gordon Cathcart, Proprietress of Uist Mrs Mary Stewart Mackenzie of Seaforth Millicent, Duchess of Sutherland Mrs Jessie Platt of Eishken Mrs Thomas, an Edinburgh woman, she moved her depot to London later Scottish Home Industries Highland Home Industries The Crofters Agency Annual Stamping (yards): It is worth noting that the highest stamping figures were in 1912. Would it be true to say it was a descending industry that brought us to the end of the First World War? The first 80 years or about half the time. Mill Spun Cloth which was sold under a variety of names such as Lewis Tweed, Harris Tweed, Home-spun, and Crofters Tweeds etc. naturally does not appear in the stamped yardage. The quality of these other tweeds, such as Lewis-Tweed was not always good and their reputation suffered. Harris Tweed, however, maintained its reputation, whether the article was genuine hand-spun or tweed made from mainland mill-spun yarn. Herring fishing declined in the 1920s after the First World War and the people of Lewis stepped up their production of Harris Tweed by improving mainland spun yarn. One of the main reasons for mainland yarn was that the Stornoway spinners (Newall & Mackenzie) were restrictive with the yarn supplies to small producers. In the 1920s therefore a strong tradition of small producers arose in Lewis and eventually some of these entrepreneurs became fairly large manufacturers of mill spun tweed. Small producers or independent producers may be defined as people who buy their yarn supplies from Commission Spinners, because they do not have spinning machinery of their own. I believe that practice is common enough in England, where there are spinners who confine their activities to spinning alone. The people of Harris remained more loyal to the traditional hand spun and they did not like the way the industry was developing in Lewis. They felt it was a threat to the genuine Harris Tweed product.

Load more